A few Ardnahoe on the table


April 15, 2026

A few Ardnahoe on the table (many Swiss)

Thinking of Stewart Laing, who passed away only recently, and of course of all his family and the staff at Hunter Laing and, more specifically, Ardnahoe.
That said, it is not very easy for this wretched website known as WF to keep up with the incredible number of new distilleries opening all over the world since roughly seven or eight years, because weeks still have 7 days and years 52 weeks, but we are doing our best. But even so, Ardnahoe is something else, it is Islay! Let us see what we have on the table…

Ardnahoe 5 yo (59.1%, OB for Members of the Ardnahoe Society 2024, PX + oloroso, 3,000 bottles)

We might perhaps have started with a refill or a bourbon, but since we are here, let’s go for it… Colour: full gold. Nose: pemmican, beef jerky, Grisons meat, sulphury tar, then bitter oranges and seawater, but also with plenty of dried kelp and fish sauce. In short, it talks. With water: leather, clay and crushed slate are added, yet the massive side remains. Mouth (neat): a big box of used matches and bitter orange, followed by walnut liqueur, salt and camphor. The dry ham side is very present as well, Spanish ham of course. With water: leather comes to the fore, accompanied by crushed pepper. Finish: very long, with very fine smoky bitters, then it ends on ginger and fresh turmeric. Comments: very, very corpulent and explosive, a proper MMA fight in your glass.
SGP:466 - 86 points.

Right then, on to bourbon…

Ardnahoe 7 yo 2019/2026 (59.3%, OB for Switzerland, bourbon barrel, cask #572, 224 bottles)

A selection from our friend Reto, ever faithful to the task. Colour: very pale white wine. Nose: it immediately makes us want to downgrade the previous one, but we shall not. This is immaculate, pure, mineral, slightly fermentary, with flowers from the Swiss alpine meadows (we exaggerate) and a smoke of great elegance. Small apples on the fruit side and a Ricola touch (S., come on!) With water: whiffs of petrol (expensive these days) and fresh bread dough. Mouth (neat): a blade. Pure peat, lemon, pepper, oysters and clams. And Ricola. With water: no change, it moves even less than the Matterhorn. Finish: long, chiselled, even more saline, towards oysters. Artichokes. Comments: we do love this purity, it is a magnificent distillate in its natural state that perhaps just needs a few more years and we are certain it will reach 90 in no time at all.
SGP:467 - 89 points.

Ardnahoe 5 yo ‘Cask Strength Batch #2’ (61%, OB, first fill bourbon, 2026)

Colour: white wine. Nose: very fine but dominated by the purity of the previous Swiss one, which did not bother with quite so much vanilla, if you see what we mean. With water: the pure peat comes out more, yet it still lacks a bit the superb nerviness and irresistibility of the previous one. Mouth (neat): the sweetness of the bourbon, the vanilla, the mango and the banana for instance, coat this little beast, despite it remaining taut as a bow and as salty as the waters of the Sound of Islay. In truth, on the palate it is excellent, the gap is far less marked on the palate. With water: yes, it is good, it is very good, it becomes more rooty. Finish: long, fresher, purer, freed from its coating. Green apple. Comments: it will have made up almost all of its delay on the ‘Swiss’ one on the palate, in the manner of an Alpine stage of the Tour de France. But the Swiss still keeps the yellow jersey for now.
SGP:557 - 87 points.

Right then, let’s tackle the more difficult stages…

Ardnahoe 6 yo 2019/2025 (60.1%, OB for Switzerland, PX quarter casks, small batch, 325 bottles)

Would you believe that two quarter casks amount to as much as one full cask. There is never any real logic in the world of whisky, is there? And who has ever come across a ‘half cask’? I know, imperial sizes and measures… Colour: full gold. Nose: we have arrived in a territory right between young bourbon, Jamaican rum and indeed Islay whisky. To tell the truth it loses us a little with these green walnuts mixed with shoe polish and acetone, but the peat still manages to tie everything together. Yet it does hit a bit at this strength. So, with water: it is leather and tobacco that come out. Mouth (neat): walnut liqueur, dry ham and shoe polish. There we are. With water: candied citrus comes in to bring a little order, and pepper quickly arrives to the rescue. Finish: long, with a return of leather accompanied by pepper. Comments: of course it is very good, but we find the bourbons do rule the session, especially in terms of precision. In any case, peat plus sherry can work wonders but also produce notable misfires. Well, here we are very, very far from any misfires.
SGP:567 - 85 points.

Ardnahoe 6 yo 2019/2026 (60.4%, OB for Switzerland, oloroso quarter casks, small batch, 683 bottles)

It is not that we wish to be pitied, far from it, but tasting a flight of very young malts from the same distillery is not an easy task, as in truth only the casks really make the difference, whereas we are philosophically more drawn to the distillates themselves. Come on, let us drop these rather rambling comments and move on… Colour: full gold. Nose: a metallic side to begin, old copper implements, then cherry stalk, then vegetal earthiness and walnut wine. The walnut wine, that was expected. Pipe tobacco and leather as well, for that matter. With water: a rather unusual duo of coal tar and ginger. Mouth (neat): no, this is really good, it does not clash, with a pairing of green walnut and black pepper leading the dance, followed by bitter oranges and bay leaves. With water: tighter, good news, even if the oloroso does not quite give way. Leather, green walnut, green pepper, bitter orange and so on. Finish: likewise, plus a slightly earthy side and a pepper that ultimately steals the show without restraint, DJT style. Comments: we hesitated for a long time but in the end we prefer this oloroso, a little less soothing.
SGP:567 - 86 points.

Bourbon all the way! Switzerland too, of course. And Ricola sweets.